


Juno Steel and the Epic Vesbud Wedding Heist

by ArturisNebula



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Buddy and Vespa have my whole heart, F/F, Juno likes tiger lilies, M/M, Nonbinary Juno Steel, Peter and Juno live happily every after challenge, Peter can sew but can't cook, The only death is a suit jacket that Jet wanted to burn anyways, There's also a lot of jupeter fluff, Vesbud wedding!, Vespa actually starts to like Juno?, buddy and vespa, i just want everyone to be happy, vespa and buddy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:22:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26026393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArturisNebula/pseuds/ArturisNebula
Summary: Buddy is stressed.  Vespa is grouchy because Buddy is stressed.  The rest of the crew wants to cheer them both up.  They decide to throw them a surprise wedding in two days with a budget of 0 creds.  What could go wrong?
Relationships: Buddy Aurinko & Vespa Ilkay & Peter Nureyev & Rita & Jet Sikuliaq & Juno Steel, Buddy Aurinko/Vespa Ilkay, Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel
Comments: 12
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

It had been a long few weeks on the Carte Blanche. The crew had meticulously checked over every inch of the ship after it had been deemed space-worthy by Jet, but everyone was still more than a little on edge that something else was going to go wrong. Even Buddy, a woman who was known to radiate confidence no matter what the situation, was faltering. She’d been more than a little shaken by the scrape with the shape changing robot, and the anxiety and fear that had found a home within her during the years she’d waited for Vespa and begun to quickly fade after their reunion had returned with a vengeance.

Buddy was currently leaning over the Carte Blanche’s coffee-stained dining room table studying a detailed floor-plan.

“You okay, Bud?” Vespa walked into the kitchen and put a hand on Buddy’s shoulder. 

Buddy nearly jumped out of her skin at Vespa’s touch, but quickly calmed down the moment she saw Vespa’s concerned face. “I’m fine, Vespa. What are you doing up so late?”

“I could ask you the same question.” Vespa looked pointedly at Buddy before continuing. “But really…er, I have a hard time sleeping sometimes when you’re not next to me. You ground me, Bud.”

Buddy turned her head and smiled wearily at Vespa before planting a kiss on her cheek. “I’ll be in as soon as I finish this.” She promised.

“If you’re still out here in fifteen minutes I’m going to get Jet to come in here and forcefully barricade you into our room until you get at least 10 hours of sleep.” Vespa threatened, squeezing Buddy’s shoulder. “But seriously, Bud, come to bed.”

Buddy sighed reluctantly. “I supposed I can finish this in the morning.” Vespa grabbed her hand and pulled her down the hallway leading to their room before she could change her mind. 

After the door slit shut behind Buddy, Peter waited a few moments before stepping quietly out of the shadows he’d been patiently waiting in for the past few minutes. He’d come to the kitchen to make a cup of tea and upon seeing Buddy and Vespa had decided to wait until they’d left, as not to disturb them. He’d been having trouble sleeping too. Without much to do while his leg was broken, he found himself falling into strange sleep patterns that he’d yet to break out of even now that it was out of that horrible cast. 

As Peter began to walk towards the stove, him he heard two of the three doors leading into the kitchen slide open, almost instantaneously. He whipped his head around and saw three faces looking back at him in confusion. Jet was mid-step and Rita was close behind him, holding a bowl of popcorn. Juno peered sleepily from the door leading to the rooms of everyone but Buddy and Vespa.

“What are all of you doing here?” Peter asked incredulously

“Rita and I were watching Conspiracy Files 10: Six-Armed Lizards Secretly Rule Earth. It was quite interesting. I would be keen to visit Earth and meet some of these crafty amphibians. But, we finished it a few minutes ago and I wanted to make some tea.” Jet stated, walking over the the mis-matched dining room set and having a seat. Rita followed right on his heels, plopping onto the chair next to his.

“Yeah! Lots of scary lizards an’ happy lizards, though some of em were both, an’ SO MANY cool singing plants! And one of the lizards had the prettiest violet eyes I’d ever seen.” Rita sighed, swooning dramatically. “If someone walked up to me with eyes like that an’ a big castle an’ pretty singing plants I’d be theirs forever.” Rita reached down and shoved a handful of popcorn into her mouth before looking expectantly at Juno. “Why are you here Mista Steel?”

“Oh, just wanted to check on N- Ransom.”

“Aw, Mista Steel.” Rita cooed.

“He’s quite something, isn’t he, Rita.” Peter rolled his eyes at Juno. “I’ve been gone less than ten minutes.”

“Well, I worry, ok?” Juno crossed his arms.

“There’s the petulant detective I know and love.” Peter said, smiling at Juno. He reached over and grabbed the banged up old kettle they kept onboard and filled it with water before turning on the stove and placing it carefully over the heat. “So, I’m assuming all of you overheard Captain Aurinko and Vespa’s conversation as well.”

“Yeah”

“Yes.”

“Mhm!”

“Has Captain Aurinko seemed a little… off to any of you lately?” Peter said carefully.

“I have noticed that she’s seemed very stressed out since we’ve begun the final stretch of our mission. I do not think that she has been getting very much sleep. I came in to get a glass of water yesterday at 4 in the morning and she was still awake.” Jet stated matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, she hasn’t said a single passive-aggressive thing to me in weeks. Something’s definitely wrong.” Juno joked, earning him an eyeroll from Jet.

“The last time I saw Captain A happy was when she and Vespa said they were gonna get married. But after that she got all crabby and upset and I want to help but I don’t know what to do. I was gonna take her for ice cream once we passed Saturn to cheer her up! But that’s three whole days from now.” Rita chewed pensively on another handful of popcorn.

“That’s a good point, Rita.” Peter said, thoughtfully. “I’m not sure about you, but I would much prefer to have a calm, happy, rested captain, especially for the next job we’re about to do.” Peter said evenly. “Any ideas?”

Rita, as expected, began to talk immediately. “We could get her a CAKE. Or ICE CREAM. Or maybe some REALLY COZY PJS.”

“That’s a good start, Rita. Jet, Juno, any ideas?”

“I could take on cooking every night so Buddy wouldn’t have to worry about it at all.” Juno offered.

“I think Buddy just needs to get some.” Jet said, emotionless as ever.

“Gross!” Juno winced. “Those are our Moms! I mean-- that's not what I think. Captain Mom is just my boss…” Juno went red. “I just mean… Why would you even suggest that!”

“Because it’s true. Buddy and Vespa haven’t spent very much time together recently, and they balance one another out. Therefore, right now they need something to reconnect them. It’s simple reasoning.” Jet smiled in amusement at Juno’s obvious discomfort.

“Is chamomile okay for you, Jet?” Peter said, trying to redirect the conversation before Juno literally passed out from embarrassment.

“Do we have any mint left?” Jet asked.

Peter rooted around for a solid 20 seconds in the box that held their tea packets before pulling one out victoriously. “We do.” He got out four mugs and poured hot water into them. He placed tea bags in two of them and hot chocolate in the other two. He grabbed two of them and nodded at Juno to grab the others. “Careful, they’re hot.” He warned as Juno grabbed one around the middle and winced. Juno grabbed them by the handles the second try and the four mugs successfully made it the 10 feet to the table.

“Ok,” Rita said, holding up a piece of paper with a large tree on it. “So, for ideas we got: Cake, ice cream, PJs, Juno taking on cooking, and… gettin some.” Rita said, pointing at various leaves and patches of bark on the tree. “Ooh!!! Ooh!!! I might have an idea!” Rita practically jumped out of her seat in excitement. She cackled in her signature ‘Rita’s got a plan’ way, and then took a big sip of hot chocolate. 

“And what might that be?” Peter asked impatiently.

“Don’t rush the process Mista Ransom.” Rita said, drawing in a deep breath. “So, ya know how I said the last time Captain A was happy was when she said Vespa and her were gettin’ married?” Rita paused a moment to sigh happily. Just the idea of it made her smile— some of her bestest friends gettin’ together? It was just so romantic— “Well, weddings have cake and ice cream and cookin’ and gifts, so I could Captain A some good PJs and they also got… uh, what Mista Jet said, and it’s just a perfect idea? Isn’t it? I mean imagine, we open the doors and boom, music and pretty white stuff everywhere and so many flowers. We can make it look like when Mike and Andrea got married in Time’s Up, Buttercup! Oh, that was so romantic, and-” Rita paused to take a breath and Juno interrupted her before she could keep talking.

“That’s not half bad, Rita!” Juno said, smiling warmly at her. “Hell, it’s the best idea we’ve got so far by a long shot.”

“I think that’s a wonderful idea.” Peter said, prompting them all to turn and look at Jet for a final opinion. 

Jet took a long sip of tea before looking up and nodding. “I like this plan very much. It will take a lot of planning to complete, so I advise that we plot out our course now. It will also likely be hard to keep it from Buddy and Vespa so we will have to be very careful.”

“Are we sure we should keep this a secret?” Juno asked, “It would be a lot easier to just tell them, and go from there.”

“No!” Rita said, “The surprise is half the fun, plus Captain A would say no cause she’d think it’d be too much stress.”

“I guess.” Juno said, leaning back in his chair.

“Let’s begin.” Jet said firmly, flipping over the paper with Rita’s tree drawing and beginning to write out a checklist on the back.

By the time the Sim Sun had come up, they’d made a plan. Perhaps one of the best any of them had ever had the honor of helping to create. It was divided into four parts (the cake, the decorations, the clothing, and the rings) which they would use to create the wedding itself. They had the tightest of budgets: no money at all, but with four of the galaxy’s greatest criminals and an airtight plan, what could go wrong?

They set aside two days to complete their plan. The first day to get everything except for the cake and flowers, and the latter to get the cake and flowers, as well as anything they may have forgotten. They planned to execute the ceremony the second night and decided to use the observatory for the location, using Jet doing repairs on a few of the ladders leading up to it as an excuse to keep Buddy and Vespa out of that area of the ship.

They were stopping at one of the larger cities on Venus for a regular supply run the next day and Juno, Peter, Jet, and Rita volunteered to go. Buddy and Vespa didn’t object, as expected.

Vespa handed Juno the list of items that they were supposed to get. “Don’t forget to get more coffee or I’ll grind you up instead.” She deliberately pointed at the words “coffee” written in all capital letters and circled three times. They hadn’t had coffee on the ship in a few weeks and it was taking its toll on Vespa who was far more grouchy than usual.

“We will not forget your coffee, Vespa.” Jet said, gesturing at everyone to get into the Ruby 7. They quickly obliged. “We should be back in 4 hours, Buddy.” 

“Taking your time, I see.” Buddy said, raising her eyebrows.

“I need to find a very specific part for the ship, and I have estimated that it will add two hours to our regular time.” Jet responded easily.

“Wait, you’re telling me this will take FOUR hours?” Juno groaned dramatically.

“You can always stay on the ship with Vespa and I if you’d prefer not to go, Juno.” Buddy offered.

“Nah, I’ve always wanted to see Venus anyways.” Juno said. Peter elbowed him hard.

“Was that really necessary?” He hissed.

“Just keeping up the facade.” Juno grinned at him. This was the most low-stakes case Juno had ever done and he was determined to have way too much fun doing it.

“Well, we’ll see you in four hours then, and if you’re coming back later, check in or we’ll come looking for you.” Buddy said, waving them off. Jet stepped into the Ruby 7, waved, and closed her door.

They made good time finding shops that had al of the groceries and various other items they had to collect, and were left with more time than anticipated to find the items concerning the wedding. Rita had made quick work of finding a wedding scheduled for the day after they were arriving on Venus, being careful to make sure the people getting married deserved being stripped of their wedding-related purchases.

Jet pulled up outside of a massive mansion. It had marble pillars lined with gold lining the entryway and reminded Juno and Peter of the Kanagawa’s except far less menacing. 

“Everyone remember the plan?” Peter asked, gracefully stepping out of the car in a very fitted grey suit. Jet, Rita, and Juno nodded. Jet and Juno quickly followed Peter, both sporting fairly formal clothing, Juno in a flowing red dress he only wore on special occasions, and Jet looking more than a little uncomfortable in a pair of dress pants and a dusty, brown suit jacket that he’d dug up from… somewhere. Rita remained in the car with a computer on her lap.

They walked confidently towards the building, and no one even gave them a second glance as they blended in among the throngs of people busy setting up tables and chairs and general wedding decor. Their first target was a white table cloth, which Juno was easily able to grab from a table without anything on it, folding it carefully and hanging it over his arm. Jet grabbed a box of especially pretty-looking candles, and Peter nonchalantly grabbed 6 sets of fancy plates, bowls, napkins, and silverware. They were able to walk out as invisibly as they’d come in, setting the items in the Ruby and walking back inside.

At this point, they split up, Juno and Jet continued to pocket every wedding decoration they could get their hands on in the next 15 minutes before leaving with Rita to go find some rings. They’d come back 45 minutes after leaving to pick up Peter who was going to try to sweet talk the wedding organizer into telling him where the tux and gown were 

Jet and Juno were able to pick up a few more armfuls of white decorations before deciding that they’d picked up enough to decorate with. Jet got back behind the wheel of the Ruby before driving off.

“That was far easier than I anticipated.” Jet said, smiling. This had been far more fun than he’d expected.

“Yeah, not bad.” Juno said. “Let’s hope things keep going this smoothly.” 

They didn’t. 

Sirens were blaring in Juno’s ear as he tried to break into a the case holding the fancy wedding rings. He was in a very high end jewelry store. Probably one of the fanciest places he’d been in his life, if Juno was being honest. Rita had spent hours finding the perfect rings, even going as far as figuring out what size rings would fit Vespa and Buddy’s fingers (Juno didn’t bother asking how she got that information), and apparently, they were located in this store in this cabinet.

It had all been going ok until he’d accidentally tripped, falling into a grid of lights that were supposed to protect against thieves. He was determined to not be the one to screw things up for once, though, and needed to get those rings. He threw himself again against the cold, hard glass and grunted in pain as his shoulder connected with it. He shook his head and closed his eyes for a moment. When he glanced up, he saw Jet running in through the door, making a sound that Juno thought was supposed to be a war cry. Jet threw himself onto the glass case behind Juno, shattering it under his immense form. Rings and glass flew everywhere.

“Shit.” Juno said, trying to sift through the pile of rings. The police sirens were getting closer.   
Jet took off his jacket. “Grab as many as you can and put them on here.” They both began scooping as many rings as they could find into the jacket and as the police rounded the corner, the Ruby was already pulling away from the curb.

“Didja get em?” Rita asked turning to face Juno in the backseat and peering hopefully at the makeshift bag he was holding away from his body. 

“There is a high probability that we grabbed them.” Jet responded.

“I think so, we’ll have to see when we get back.” Juno said, tying the top of the jacket closed with a piece of twine from his pocket and setting it by his feet. “These rings had better be special.” He winced, looking down at his lacerated hands.

“Mista Steel! Are you ok?” Rita asked, concern filling her voice.

“Yeah, nothing time can’t fix. I’ve had worse.” Juno shrugged her concern off before thinking better of it. “Thanks for asking though, Rita”. He smiled at her.

“No problem, boss.” Rita returned.

“We are here.” Jet said, pulling up to the front of the mansion. A few minutes later, Peter burst through the doors pursued by three very angry-looking people. He was holding a large bag and was struggling to keep it from bouncing off of his shoulder as he ran. Juno opened the backseat door and shifted to the side furthest from Peter’s current position. A few seconds later Peter literally dove into the car, landing mostly on top of Juno. “Drive!” He commanded, and Jet didn’t need to be told twice, leaving the angry mob in a cloud of dust.

“Good job, Ruby.” Jet said, patting the dashboard. “You’re doing wonderfully today.”

Ruby whistled happily in return.

“Hi, Ransom.” Juno said, almost nose to nose with Peter. “Want to get off me now?”

“I quite like it right here,” Peter smiled down at Juno before leaning down further and kissing him. Juno kissed him back, harder than Peter was expecting, but not in an unwelcome way.

Jet cleared his throat from the front seat and the the two kissing in the backseat quickly broke apart, both blushing, though Juno much more noticeably.

“So, how’d it go for you?” Juno asked Peter, gesturing at the large bag.

“Fairly well, I managed to find a suit that was very close to the measurements Rita provided. I was not able to acquire a dress, as the bride apparently sent it to the cleaners after it was dropped? I’m unsure of the entire story, it’s unimportant.” Peter sighed. “Does anyone else have an idea of where to get a dress?”

Juno and Peter watched in fascinating as Rita flipped open her computer and the screen began moving through a lot of tabs very quickly. After a few minutes she sighed. “The nearest dress shop is a few hours away, and I don’t think that’s gonna be close enough.”

Juno thought for a moment. “I have a wedding dress we could use.”

Peter and Rita stared Juno incredulously. Even Jet let go of the wheel for a moment, trusting Ruby to keep them on course so he could turn around to look at Juno.  
“You did not think this was relevant information that we could’ve used-” Jet said, his voice filled with more surprise than frustration.

“You have a wedding dress, Juno?” Peter cut in, a spark of confusion drifting across his eyes.

“Oh yeah! Mista Steel! I totally forgot about that! It looks just like the one from that sad stream about the girl who lost her mom and then got raised by dragons. Ooh! And then she got to get married to that beautiful princess and got to wear that pretty dress and you liked it ok too, so when we went to get you a dress you didn’t like em until you saw that one and said it was nice and it made you look like a princess too an-“

“I have a wedding dress that we can use.” Juno said, with finality, “Though it won’t fit Buddy without alterations. Ransom, you can sew, right?”

Peter gave him a pointed ‘We’d better talk about this later because you’re not getting out of this conversation that easily’ look before answering. “Yes, I’m capable with a needle and thread.”

“Great, problem solved.” Juno said, leaning over and kissing Peter on the cheek before resting his head on Peter’s shoulder. He smiled up at him and got a smile in return.

“Always keeping me on my toes, are we, detective.” Peter said quietly to Juno, who merely ran a hand through Peter’s hair in response.

They arrived back at the Carte Blanche in exactly four hours and five minutes. Jet got out first, carrying all of the groceries in, and carrying out the task of distracting Buddy and Vespa in the kitchen long enough to get all of the wedding stuff into Juno’s room. He hadn’t used it in months and it had become a sort of storage area for all of the stuff he and Peter didn’t use on a weekly basis.

They made quick work of carrying it in, and darted out just in time to see Vespa prowling down the hallway towards them. Juno discreetly locked the door behind him.

“Hey, sorry if I was hard on you earlier, Steel.” She rumbled, clearly in a better mood after getting ahold of some coffee.

“It’s fine Vespa.” Juno smiled at her. The smile and words devoid of any sharpness caught her off guard. 

“You’re not so bad, you know that?” Vespa said, slugging him on the shoulder.

“Thanks?” Juno said, a little protectively.

“That was a compliment, Steel.” Vespa rolled her eyes at him before continuing down the hallway. Rita, Peter, and Juno exhaled in relief that she hadn’t thought that they were being suspicious at all. Rita began to meander back towards the kitchen, probably to grab a bag of the special edition salmon-pickle chips they’d gotten on sale. Peter leaned back against the wall. 

“Juno, how does a nice romantic evening of sorting through glass and rings sound?” Peter asked, voice lilting in a flirty sort of way.

“Better than the nothing than I had planned. Lead the way, Ransom.” Juno unlocked his door, grabbed Jet’s jacket and relocked it before following Peter to his room.

Peter closed his door and locked it while Juno carefully opened the ‘bag’ full of rings. As Peter turned back to face him, he noticed that Juno’s has were both covered in hundreds of cuts varying in size and shape.

“Juno! Are you ok?” Peter asked, concern flooding his face and voice.

“Yeah, don’t worry Nureyev, it looks worse than it is.” Juno smiled at Peter, whose face shifted to somehow look even more concerned. Peter bent down and took Juno’s hands in his, prompting a wince to cross Juno’s face.

“See? You’re not fine. Stay here until I get back and don’t touch any more glass, no matter how tempting it is to touch… Glass.” He chuckled and winked at Juno who sighed and flopped over onto the soft carpet on Nureyev’s floor, not having anything better to do.

Juno stared at the ceiling and traced the lines with his eyes until he heard footsteps out in the hallway again. He sat up right as the door slid open to admit Peter into the room. He sat down across from Juno and crossed his legs, resting Juno’s hands on his knees. “This is going to sting a little.” Peter warned, squeezing some ointment into his hands and rubbing them together before carefully massaging it into the cuts on Juno’s hands.

His hands were warm on Juno’s, and Juno didn’t even mind the sting if it meant he was able to have Nureyev’s hands on his. He traced Nureyev’s face with his eyes, carefully examining each freckle, every wrinkle in the space between his eyebrows— furrowed in concentration. He admired Nureyev’s cheekbones, the small mole he had just below his left ear, the flecks in his beautiful, beautiful eyes. Not a very poetic description, Juno thought, Not the description he should be able to give about the eyes of the man he might someday—

“Feel any better, Juno?” Peter queried, looking him directly in the eye. Juno looked down at his hands and realized they’d been bandaged while he was lost in thought.

“Much,” Juno said, warmly, leaning forwards and kissing Nureyev softly on the lips. He could feel Nureyev smile into the kiss, and felt a burst of affection rise in his chest. He pulled away after a few more seconds reluctantly. “We should probably get started on sorting, this could take awhile.” Juno sighed, reaching over to untie the top of the bag

Rings and glass spilled across the floor. They sorted in comfortable silence for a long while, only speaking to draw one another’s attention to an especially outrageous or beautiful ring. They found one of the rings that Rita had picked fairly quickly, but the other one didn’t turn up for a long while. Juno had deemed finding it a lost cause when Peter noticed it shining up from underneath a piece of glass.

They quickly swept up the glass and Peter put the remaining 30-odd rings in a drawer in his dresser for safekeeping until they figured out what to do with them. It was pretty late by the time that they got Peter’s room fully cleaned up.

“You hungry?” Juno asked, smelling the distinct aroma of soup floating in from the kitchen. He wrinkled his nose. Juno hated soup.

“Not particularly, I’d rather turn in early. Is that alright with you, Juno?” Peter said, shrugging off his jacket and beginning to unbutton his shirt.

“Yeah, that sounds good to me.” Juno fished into the dresser they shared and pulled out boxers and an oversized shirt which he slipped on before crawling into bed. He felt Nureyev curl up against his back soon after, and sighed in contentment. He was beginning to drift off when he heard Nureyev say something.

“Whazzup?” Juno mumbled, rubbing some of the sleep from his eye.  
“Are you awake, Juno?” 

“I am now. What’s bothering you?” Juno rolled over onto his back with a sigh.

“Well, I was hoping to talk to you about that wedding dress you so… conveniently had on board.”

“Look, Nureyev, it’s really not that big a deal. I just grabbed everything from my closet when I was leaving and it somehow got mixed in, I guess.” 

“I’m more concerned with the why than the how, Juno.” Nureyev said, shifting so that his arm rested under Juno’s head. 

“Oh, you mean why I went out and bought a wedding dress? Well, it’s a good thing I’m the detective in this relationship and not you.” Juno teased.

“Juno….”

“Okay, okay.” Juno said, running a hand through his hair. “I… I almost got married a long time ago. It was a mistake and I kept the dress because I’d spent too many creds on it to justify throwing it away.”

“I see.” Nureyev said, taking a moment to process this information. “Well, if that’s all there is to it, I don’t see why any reason to discuss this further.” 

“I should’ve told you sooner, but there’s never really a good time to talk about stuff like this and I kept almost saying something and then the subject would change or…” 

“It’s all in the past, Juno. If you can handle the burden of my past, I’m sure I can find a way to get over the idea that my beautiful lady almost spent his life with someone else.” Nureyev said, voice taking on the faux dramatic tone he used to tease Juno.

“Sounds good, Nureyev.” Juno yawned, arching his back into Nureyev’s chest. “I think I’m gonna go to sleep now if I’ve answered all of your pressing questions.” Nureyev wrapped an arm around Juno’s chest and felt the detective relax at his touch.

“Actually, while we were on the subject, I was going to ask if..” Nureyev began cautiously, but Juno interrupted him with a soft snore. Nureyev chuckled quietly to himself. “Sleep well, Juno.” 

Nureyev had been thinking about marriage for the past few months. Not marriage, exactly, but more the idea of “forever” with one person. After his decision to abandon any idea of getting out of his debts the easy way, through Nova, just because of Juno’s smile, Nureyev began to spend spare moments dissecting the moment that he chose to return to the Carte Blanche. He’d chosen Juno with every single bone in his body aching for him to turn away and forget about him. His brain doing everything in its power to redirect his thoughts towards the debts that haunted him. Trying to remind him of waking up alone, that morning after their escape from Miasma and spending the next months trying to rid himself of any feelings that remained for Juno.

Nureyev tried so hard to keep himself closed off from any of the crew, and it had been working until they’d landed to pick up the final two members of their newly formed “crime family,” and they’d been familiar faces. Nureyev had sprawled across the Ruby 7 to get a vantage of the new recruits while remaining somewhat hidden, much to Jet’s dismay, and then Juno had walked in. Had been so bold as to walk up to Nureyev and give him a small, nervous smile. Before he could open his mouth and ensnare Nureyev again, he’d shattered the moment.

“Hello Juno, it’s been awhile.” He’d flashed his teeth and then gracefully hopped off the Ruby. He used a lot of willpower to force his legs to take him slowly, uncaringly, back towards his room. He wasn’t sure if, given a mind of their own, his legs would have run towards or away from Juno, and he wasn’t keen to find out. He’d planned to avoid the detective as much as possible, but Buddy had other ideas, sending them on a job together after only a day. And then Juno had melted him again with that infuriatingly beautiful smile.

And then, they’d talked. And Juno was different. Not in a bad way, quite the opposite. He was less angry, softer around the edges. Still grouchy sometimes, still defensive, but not as much so. He had changed, and Nureyev deeply respected that. And more than that, Nureyev found himself trusting this man… his Juno, again, and loving him again more deeply than he’d thought possible. It took time, of course, and talking. So much talking. But, soon, Nureyev couldn’t imagine being alone anymore.

When he was sure they were going to die at that server farm, the first thing that Nureyev thought was that he wished he’d had more time with Juno, that he could’ve held him for one more moment. And then, Nureyev was able to, and the moment he touched Juno again, he knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with this man. He’d been the nameless thief for as long as he could remember, but that man was one he wanted to take a step back from. He was always going to be a thief, sure, but nameless? He was beginning to have second thoughts about that. Steel is such a pretty name.


	2. Chapter 2

When Nureyev woke up, Juno was still fast asleep beside him. He smiled and slipped out of bed, quickly changing into clothes and applying the minimal makeup that Ransom wore before walking down towards the kitchen.

“Morning, Pete.” Buddy greeted him. They were often the first two awake in the morning, both habitually early risers. 

“Good morning, Captain Aurinko. Did you sleep well?” Peter replied, walking over to put the kettle on. 

“I did, although Vespa seems to have it in her mind that I need to get to sleep earlier each night.”

“Juno is much the same,” Peter sighed. “Regardless. How are the plans coming?” He moved to stand behind where Buddy was currently sitting, analyzing the floor plan that had been sitting on the table last night.”

“Smooth as ever, Pete, smooth as ever.”

The rest of the crew filtered slowly in over the next hour. Juno, as usual, was the last one to arrive even though he was the one tasked with making breakfast. He sleepily grabbed ingredients and began mixing batter to make pancakes. 

“Buddy,” Jet broke the comfortable silence the crew had been sitting in. “I have realized I am lacking one more part that I need to repair the engine and we will need to stop for two hours on the next planet. Rita has made sure that there is a store with it in stock.”

“Very well, Jet, if it’s necessary we can stop.” Buddy sighed, a little annoyed by another delay. “I’ll put in the coordinates.” She swept out of the room.

“It is quite necessary.” Jet said, nodding solemnly.

Vespa gave Jet a slightly odd look, “I thought we’d already fixed the engine?”

“I am missing an important part.” Jet said again.

“If you’re sure.” Vespa grumbled, “I can help you install it later if you want.”

“I already have assistance. Thank you for offering.” Jet took a long draft of his tea.

Vespa flashed him a look of confusion before standing up to go get some of the golden-brown pancakes Juno was making. “Damn, Steel. Solid pancakes.”

“Thanks,” Juno grunted in response, still not fully awake.

“He’s quite something, isn’t he?” Peter said, looking at Juno dreamily.

“My breakfast is gonna end up on your face if you don’t stop making goo-goo eyes at him right now, thief.” Vespa threatened. Peter smiled and shook his head, pulling his eyes slowly away from Juno.

“So, how’s the Captain really doing, Vespa.” Peter pried.

“None of your business, thief.” Vespa snapped, then thought better of it as Jet gave her a pointed look. “She’s fine. Just stressed.”

Jet looked at Juno and slowly mouthed “bone.” Peter almost fell over laughing at Juno’s disgusted reaction.

“Something funny?” Vespa growled, showing a piece of pancake into her mouth.

“No, sorry, just thinking of a moment last week.” Peter said too quickly.

“Right. Ok, well, I’ve fulfilled my social quota with the thief for the day.” Vespa said, abruptly standing up and walking out of the room.

“You didn’t put your plate in the sink!” Juno called after her.

“I don’t care!” Vespa yelled back.

“Someone’s grouchy. I thought it was supposed to get better after we got her coffee.” Juno said, flipping the last of the pancakes onto a plate.

“Buddy being worried has been upsetting her.” Jet stated.

“Hopefully she’ll be less grumpy tonight, eh?” Peter nudged Jet with his elbow good-naturedly. Jet blinked and shifted a little farther from Peter, who in turn looked a little hurt.

“I do not like elbows.” Jet offered, feeling bad for causing the wounded puppy look Peter was currently sporting.

“Quite.” Peter said, rearranging his face back into its regular vaguely cocky, yet still nonchalant expression. He looked over at Rita who had been watching a stream on her comms since she’d sat down. “Rita?” He asked her, waving a hand in front of her face.

“Oh! Yeah! Hi Mista Ransom.” Rita said, eyes refocusing to the scene around her. 

“You’re good to get decorations set up while Jet and Juno fetch the flowers, and I fix the dress correct?” 

“Yup! I’m gonna make it look so good! It’ll be all white and sparkly and awwwww it’s gonna be so pretty!” Rita looked like she was about to begin rambling about another stream with a wedding in it that she was going to base the decorations on, like she’d done for an hour in the Ruby last night, so Juno cut in.

“We should probably get the stuff up there and then head out, right?”

“Yes.” Jet said, standing up. “But first; pancakes. There is always time for pancakes.” He delivered the last sentence like it was a profound quote. Peter and Juno looked at one another, trying to figure out if he was actually being serious. 

They all got pancakes and moved the boxes of decor up into the observatory. It was fairly easy as both Buddy and Vespa were currently in rooms on the opposite end of the room from the observatory. Buddy had walked by them at one point, but she’d just assumed that Jet and Rita were helping Juno move some more boxes into Peter’s room. Normally she would’ve been a little more suspicious at the oddly-sized boxes that she’d never seen before and the apprehensive looks plastered across the group’s faces, but she was more than a little in her head.

Jet helped boost Rita up the ladders to the observatory once they’d gotten all of the decorations up the series of ladders, and instructed her on how to lock the trapdoor at the very top, making sure that if Buddy or Vespa felt the need to wander up to the observatory, effectively ruining the surprise, they wouldn’t be able to actually enter the room.

Peter locked himself inside his room with a box of sewing supplies and the armful of fabric he’d been able to mooch from the decor boxes. It had been a long time since he’d had to complete a tailoring this extreme, much less on something other than a jacket or pants, but honestly, dresses were just long shirts, right? Nureyev sighed. He had a lot of work and pricked fingers ahead of him.

Jet and Juno took off in the Ruby as soon as they touched down on Kailash, a sizable planet located about a day’s journey from Venus.

There wasn’t much to Kailash. It was a planet with the sole purpose of food production. As the Ruby 7 raced across the country side, all that was visible to its passengers were miles upon miles of farmland, fields of golden corn and thin threads of wheat waving in the light wind. There was supposed to be a large section of uncultivated land about 10 minutes from where the Carte Blanche was resting, and Jet was determined to make it in 5. Sneaking decor onboard was one thing, but getting literal bundles of flowers past Buddy and Vespa was going to be practically impossible.

Nonetheless, Juno and Jet hopped out of the Ruby on the edge of a large meadow. It was teeming with all sorts of life, birds and bugs and more types of plants than even Jet could count. Juno began wading through the tall grass, cautiously avoiding any patches that looked muddy. Jet barged right in, quickly surpassing Juno and his careful sidestepping.   
“We must work quickly. It is imperative that we return before we are expected.” Jet said, grabbing a few of the flowers surrounding him. “Rita has informed me that the color palette is orange and green, therefore we will need to find orange and green flowers. Or perhaps just orange flowers as the stems and leaves are green.”

“On it, big guy.” Juno called after Jet. He swerved to the right, noticing a large clump of tiger lilies. He quickly amassed an armful of them and headed back towards the Ruby, carefully setting them in one of the buckets they’d filled with water and set in the trunk. “Hey… uh… Ruby?” Juno still wasn’t so sure about this whole ‘talking to the car’ thing, but hell, it couldn’t hurt. “You’re gonna need to drive really smoothly on the way back or you’re gonna get a lot of flowers and water in your trunk, ok?” The Ruby whistled at him, and he took it as an ‘ok.’ “Great.” He said, patting one of the tail lights. The Ruby honked at him, startling Juno into taking a step back.

“Juno.” Jet said, walking past him and placing an armful of green flowers Juno didn’t recognize into the car. “Stop annoying Ruby and continue collecting flowers.” Juno didn’t argue, and they headed back out into the field. They spent around 45 minutes picking flowers before Jet decided that the amount they’d amassed was acceptable. 

They drove in the other direction of the ship for a few minutes, stopping at one of the local farms for Juno to get fresh ingredients for the cake. In the original plan, they would’ve stolen the most elaborate wedding cake Rita could find, but in realizing how hard it is to sneak a 4-layer cake onto a ship without drawing anyone’s attention, they figured that it was probably just better to let Juno stealthily whip something up in the kitchen when he was making dinner. No one questioned what he cooked anyways, as Juno was often prone to launch into long-winded speeches talking about the nuances of whatever he was making.

Juno and Jet made it back to the ship quickly and were greeted by Buddy. “You’re back early!” She observed, turning towards Jet. “Did you find the part you were looking for?” 

“Yes. It was exactly where Rita told me it would be.” Jet nodded his head.

“Perfect.” Buddy clapped her hands together before pausing and smelling the air. “Do you boys smell anything odd? It smells like a flower shop has taken up shop in our cargo bay.”

“Well-“ Jet began,

“It’s me!” Juno said, cutting him off. He looked at his feet. “Ransom got me some uh… new perfume yesterday.”

Buddy raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, it’s nice. Very… strong.” She looked over at Jet. “One of the lightbulbs in the common area has burst and Vespa said you knew where the box of new ones was?” 

“Yes. I will show you where I keep them for future reference.” Jet looked at Juno, who in turn gave him a slight nod. Jet led Buddy down the hallway and Juno trusted that Jet would distract Buddy for a long enough period of time for him to get the flowers up to Rita. He darted quickly over to Peter’s room. He looked up and down the hallway to make sure Vespa wasn’t near by.

“Nureyev.” Juno called, knocking on Peter’s door. He heard soft footsteps and then an even softer ‘whoosh’ as the door in front of him slid open.

“Juno,” Nureyev said, stepping into the hallway. “I’m a little busy.”  
“Gotta get flowers to Rita. Now. Jet’s distracting Buddy, only have a few minutes.” Juno said quickly.

“Oh, dear. Let’s be quick then.” Peter stepped into the hallway and closed the door behind him. 

They raced towards the cargo bay, and Juno’s heart sank when he saw Vespa standing in front of the open trunk of the Ruby. Her head turned to watch Juno and Nureyev race through the door. “You and Jet go flower pickin or something?” Vespa asked, looking at Steel.

“Well, uh, we saw some pretty flowers and, uh…”. Juno trailed off. He’d already used up his small amount of lying ability for the day on Buddy a few seconds ago. Luckily, he was standing next to one of the best liars in the galaxy.

“We were… going to have a romantic evening, if you must know.” Peter said, knowing that even the mere mention of any relationship was often enough to send Vespa packing. “I was GOING to surprise this lovely lady with a nice bed of flowers, but he’s too good of a detective and found me out almost immediately.” Peter wrapped his arm around Juno’s back and pulled him in for a long, deep kiss. Vespa made some fake vomiting noises for a moment, and then turned around and escaped back into the kitchen.

Peter released Juno, whose face was beginning to turn a little red. “We should get the… flowers up to, uh, Rita.” Juno stuttered out. Peter loved turning him into a stuttering mess, but he didn’t have time to admire his lovely detective right now, and instead grabbed two of the buckets and began carrying them towards the bottom of the first ladder leading to the observatory. He began carefully climbing up it, and took on the role of ferrying them up to Rita as Juno brought bucket after bucket of flowers to the base of the ladder.

“Why doe we even need this many flowers?” Juno grumbled after the final two buckets had been carefully been lifted up to Rita. 

“Rita mentioned some sort of plan earlier, something from a stream called War of the Dahlias? I’ve never seen it, so I just trusted she knew what she was doing.” Peter shrugged. “Well, now that that’s taken care of, I have a dress that I need to continue work on, and you,” Peter leaned over and gave Juno a quick kiss on the cheek, “have a cake to deal with.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Juno said, taking a step in the direction of the kitchen and giving Peter an awkward little wave. “I’ll see you later.”

“I’ll pop in and help you cook if the bodice gives me less trouble than I’m expecting.” Peter sad, smiling at Juno hopefully.

“Please don’t.” Juno teased. “You can observe, but you’re not allowed to so much as crack an egg. Not after last time. How does one even ‘accidentally’ throw an egg onto the ceiling.” 

“I didn’t throw it, it just slipped!” Peter said indignantly.

“Sure.” Juno said, grinning and turning to walk towards the kitchen for real this time. “See you in a few hours.”

Juno got busy in the kitchen. He was trying to make a couple of special Rangian recipes for Vespa, as well as the fanciest cake he could create in the limited time he had. He’d heard Vespa mention that Red Velvet was her favorite, and to stay with the theme, he used green icing to separate the layers. But, because it was a wedding cake, he coated the outside in a smooth, white cream cheese frosting. He tried to make some pretty flowers on the top of the cake, but without the piping bags he had at home, they came out looking mediocre at best. Juno stared at the sad flowers before taking them and plopping back into the icing bin. He tried writing “Vespa and Buddy” on the top of the cake, and it didn’t come out half bad.

As Juno was standing back and admiring his work, Jet walked into the room. “Hello, Juno.”

“Heya big guy. Opinion?” Juno gestured at the cake 

“It looks very good.” Jet said, studying the writing on top. “Who are Bubbg and Wospa?”

“It’s supposed to say ‘Buddy and Vespa.’ ” Juno sighed. “Is it really that hard to read?”

“I was joking, Juno.” Jet said, “I’m sure that they will love it.”

“Right.” Juno picked up the cake carefully. It was only an hour until they planned to ask Buddy and Vespa to put on the fancy wedding outfits they’d gotten for them, and Juno figured it would be better to take the stuff up now. “Big guy, could you grab those two pots for me?” Juno nodded his head towards the two large pots sitting on the stove. On had a container of salad, dressings, and two loaves of beautiful bread stuffed into it, and the other was full of a thick vegetable stew. 

Jet grabbed them both and followed Juno towards the base of the ladder. Juno balanced precariously above him as he struggled to keep ahold of both the cake and the ladder. 

“Are you in need of assistance?” Jet asked, watching Juno almost slip

“I think I got it,” Juno said. He climbed a few rungs higher, successfully making it halfway up. “See? Easy.”

Jet pulled out his comms and called Peter. “Juno is refusing my help and he is in need of assistance. Please hurry. We are at the ladder leading to the observatory.” Jet hung up without waiting for a response.

Peter raced down the hallway leading towards the observatory, dancing around Vespa over as she unexpectedly stepped out from the door leading to the engine room. 

“Hey!” She cried, leaping backwards. “Watch where you’re going, thief.”

“Apologies, Vespa.” Peter said, continuing down the hallway. “Juno needs me.”

“Does he now.” She rolled her eyes. Vespa would have preferred that Buddy didn’t recruit two lovesick fools, but she supposed that she too was once like that. Is like that.

Peter quickly scaled up the ladder to where Juno was slowly making progress. “Can I give you a hand, dear?” 

“Fine,” Juno grumbles, letting Peter hold the cake for him as he climbs a few rungs higher. “I want you to know that I could’ve done this alone, though.”

“Of course.” Peter hands him back the cake, and they continue to switch off holding and moving until they reach the very top. Juno raps loudly on the trapdoor. 

“Rita! It’s Juno, can you let us in?” 

There’s silence for a moment followed by a pattering of footsteps. “What’s the magic word, boss?” 

“Open the trapdoor or a cake is going to fall out of my hands.”

“Booooosssssss” Rita said.

“Ok, fine. Please?” Juno sighed in exasperation.

“Was that so hard?” Rita said, opening the trapdoor. Juno handed her the cake before trying to climb up into the observatory. He felt Rita put a hand over his eyes. “NO! You can’t look yet, I’m not done, go get busy with gettin all fancy and gettin Captain A and Vespa all fancied up too.”

“Rita.”

“Please, boss?” 

“Fine,” Juno sighed, turning his head to look back down the ladder and give Peter an eye roll.

“I saw that! Now get outta here.”

“Rita.” Jet stated, “I still have items to bring up. I cannot ‘get outta here’ yet. Is that ok?”

“Yeah! I’m gonna need you up here anyways! I got some stuff to put up high that I can’t reach!”

“Hey!” Juno said. “He gets to see it and I don’t?”

“Sorry, boss, but you ain’t tall enough, and we need two of ya to go force Vespa and Captain A to take a break and get their clothes on.”

“Fine,” Juno said, nodding at Peter to climb down and make room for Juno on the ladder. They both quickly scurried down the ladder. “You going to need help carrying that stuff up?” Juno asked Jet.

“I have the situation handled, thank you for offering.” Jet replied and began to disappear up the ladder.

Peter and Juno walked down the hall. “How’s the dress going?” Juno asked.

“Really well, actually, I finished it a few minutes ago. Do you want to see it?” Peter responded.

“Sure. Then we get ready and then get the happy couple?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Peter opened the door into his room and stepped in ahead of Juno. Pins and fabric were scattered across the floor, but Juno’s eyes went directly to the dress. When he’d bought it, it had looked more juvenile. Very puffy, lots of beadwork and sparkles. A ‘dress for a princess’ as Rita had put it. But, Nureyev had turned it into a dress suited for a queen. He’d taken off the outer layers, putting the bottommost layer exposed. He’d then taken two layers of white, patterned chiffon and attached them the the top of the skirt, making the bottom of the dress fan out onto the floor. He’d removed some of the beading, making it a simpler pattern, and took off the two, thin straps from the top, moving the beads he’d removed higher up to make it look like a more intentional pattern. In one word, it was gorgeous.

Juno looked at Nureyev. “I didn’t know you could sew like this.”

“Well, you pick up a variety of skills in my line of work, and this is one of the ones I actually quite enjoy.” He smiled at Juno.

“You know this means you’re required to do this to my future wedding dress too, right?” Juno joked offhandedly. Nureyev went a little red.

“Oh, uh, yes. O- of course, Juno.” He stuttered. Juno raised his eyebrow at the normally suave thief currently tripping over his words like a schoolboy with a crush.

“You good, Nureyev?”

“I am wonderful, Juno.” Nureyev smiled, practically forcing the blush off of his face. Only the tips of his ears retained the tiniest hint of red after a few moments. “Well, we should get ready.” Juno and Nureyev spent the next half fifteen minutes changing into fancier clothes. Juno found a floor-length satin blue dress he hadn’t worn in a few years and pulled it on. He smoothed his hair down a little, and stuck his fanciest diamond earrings in. Nureyev went for the usual, quickly slipping into one of his more formal, black suits.

“Hey, isn’t that the suit you wore when we first met?” Juno asked, looking over at Nureyev.

“Yes, I suppose it is.” Nureyev commented, fingers running over the subtle tear in the sleeve he’d had to fix after Juno nicked it with a box cutter during their escape from Cecil Kanagawa. 

Juno walked over to Nureyev and gave him a hug from behind and kissed him on the cheek. “Well, it makes you look crazy handsome.”

Nureyev leaned back into Juno. “Thanks, Juno. You’re not so bad yourself.” He teased.

“Mmmm” Juno hummed happily, losing himself in the feeling of Nureyev’s back sinking slowly into his chest for a moment.

“Well,” Nureyev said after a few long seconds. “As much as I’d like to continue this, I don’t think it would be wise to make Captain Aurinko and Vespa late to their own wedding.”

“Yeah, I don’t think Rita would ever forgive us.” Juno said, neither of them actually moving to separate from the other. After another minute, Juno reluctantly pulled his arms off of Nureyev and began walking over to the dress Nureyev had laid out on the bed. “I have more experience dress-wise, so I can take care of Buddy if you don’t mind taking the suit to Vespa.” 

“I’m sure Vespa will take very well to me telling her to get into a suit without being given any reason.” Nureyev said, raising his eyebrows at Juno.

“Well, it’s not like I’d do any better.” Juno said, carefully draping the dress over his arm. “Just… tell her Rita wanted to throw a tea party or something. If she’s about to skewer you, I’m sure it would be ok to tell her the truth, but hey, you’re a galaxy-class liar, I’m sure you’ll be able to figure something out.”

“I suppose.” Nureyev said, reluctantly. He walked over to the closet in the corner of his room and pulled out the suit they’d stolen for Vespa. He turned back towards Juno and arranged his face into an overly dramatic solemn expression. “If I don’t return in 45 minutes, I would advise that you come looking for me.”

“Oh stop being so overdramatic,” Juno rolled his eye, poking Nureyev in the side. “You’ll be fine.”

“Tell that to the cut on my shoulder from when she got spooked on La Verrier. It still throbs when it rains.” Nureyev bellyached dramatically, rubbing at his right shoulder.

Juno walked over and gave Nureyev a quick peck on faint scar he’d been complaining about. “See you soon.” Juno walked towards the common room, where Buddy had been spending most of her time recently.


	3. Chapter 3

Juno opened the door into the common room and immediately spotted Buddy sitting on one of the couches. She was studying something intently on her comms. “Hey Buddy. You in the middle of something?”

Buddy started a little bit at Juno’s voice. She’d been deep in thought and hadn’t noticed him until he’d started talking. “Nothing important enough that it can’t wait.” Buddy shut off her comms and looked up at Juno. She blinked a little at Juno’s fancy attire. She was used to only seeing him wear the ratty old trench coat of his or maybe a nice sweater if he was feeling especially dressy. “Have you come to fetch me for dinner?”

“Uh, yeah. We’re doing a sort of fancy tea party in the observatory tonight at Rita’s request.” Juno lied, drawing upon his sarcastic comment to Peter earlier for inspiration. 

“Sounds like a great opportunity for family bonding.” Buddy stood up and started towards the door.

“Wait!” Juno called after her. “You’re supposed to put this on!” He caught up to Buddy and shoved the white bundle into her arms. Buddy unfolded it, and her calm expression morphed into one of confusion.

“Is this a wedding dress?” She asked incredulously.

“Uh, no. It’s a sundress and it’s supposed to be all the rage on Neptune this year.” Juno said, phrasing it more as a question than a statement.

“Is it necessary?” Buddy asked, holding the dress out in front of her. “Also where did you even get this?”

“Yes, and Ransom stole it…. I’m not sure when exactly. But, Rita saw it and insisted that you wear it. Look, I was already subjected to this,” Juno gestured at his attire, “and I’ve found it’s better to just not argue.”

“I suppose I can put it on. Wait outside the door for me, would you?” Buddy asked, starting to unzip the back of the yellow dress she had on currently.

“Sure.” Juno said, walking across the room and through the door. He waited a few moments before getting an idea and darting back towards his room. He made it back to the door mere seconds before Buddy walked out. She was breathtaking. The dress hugged her in all the right places, and the billowing chiffon at her feet that moved as she walked made her seem like she was almost floating on a cloud of mist. She looked like a queen. Juno felt his eyes widen a little bit. Damn, Nureyev could sew. 

“Here,” Juno said, holding out a pair of earrings he’d been saving for a special occasion. “These’ll take your look to the whole next level.” They were strands of small diamonds hung in a teardrop shape. On Juno they looked pretty, but on Buddy they were breathtaking. They hung most of the way down her neck, leaving an inch of space right above her shoulder and sparkled more than one would expect in artificial lighting on a spaceship.

“And you’re sure that this is all necessary?,” Buddy said, feeling way too overdressed.

“Don’t shoot the messenger.” Juno raised both of his hands up in the classic ‘I’m innocent’ pose.

“This’d better be one hell of a tea party.” Buddy said, starting to walk down the hallway towards the observatory. Juno followed close behind her. As they turned the corner into the hallway leading to the base of the ladder, he saw a shoe that he knew was Peter’s disappearing up into the section of the ladder that wasn’t visible from the angle that they were at currently, and assumed that meant that he’d managed to talk Vespa into the suit.

Juno quickened his pace, arriving at the ladder before Buddy, and began climbing. She followed suit, and they’d almost made it to the top when Juno heard Vespa yell: “What the hell?!”

“Everything all right, Vespa?” Buddy called out from below Juno on the ladder.

“Just get up here, Bud.” Vespa growled. Juno’s heart sank. Had they taken a step too far? He didn’t think Buddy would shoot them out an airlock, but then again…

They reached the top of the ladder, and Juno’s eyes widened as he stepped out into the observatory. Every wall held strips of fabric draped between alternating green and orange flowers. Flowers were also hung every few feet from see-through string attached to the ceiling, creating a magnificent floating flower canopy. There were candle-lit lanterns hung on the walls, and over to the right sat two tables, both with fancy, white tablecloths. One had the stew and cake sitting on it, and the other had plates, bowls and silverware set up on it, with six chairs surrounding it. The real showstopper was to Juno’s left, though. In front of the biggest window in the room, Rita had created a massive flower arch and had lain out a large strip of white fabric as an “aisle.” She’d also intertwined Christmas lights in the flower arch, which gave it the effect of practically glowing. It was one of the most beautiful things Juno had seen in his life.

Directly in front of Juno stood Peter, Jet, Rita, and, of course, Vespa. Jet had put the fancy suit that he’d been wearing two days ago back on, except instead of the jacket that had now been destroyed by glass, he was wearing his regular jacket, though it looked like he’d given it a quick wash, so that was something. Rita was sporting a short, light blue dress that came down to her knees that Juno hadn’t ever seen before. Peter was sporting the suit Juno’d seen him in earlier, and Vespa was wearing the suit they’d stolen, and though he hated to admit it, she was downright rocking it.

“What…?” Buddy gasped from behind Juno.

“See, Bud?” Vespa snapped.

“Surprise!” Rita said, jumping in the air and doing jazz hands. Juno, Jet, and Peter echoed Rita’s exclamation with varying degrees of enthusiasm. “We knew you were feelin’ stressed so we thought we could surprise you n’ Vespa with a weddin’ cause you two said you were gonna get married but you never said when and I know we shoulda let you guys figure out you’re own weddin, this one doesn’t even have to count, y’know? But we thought it would y’know make you and Vespa happy and you might stop stressin’ for a night and have some fun with us and I spent all day hangin’ flowers and we’ve been tryin’ real hard to put this together. Please don’t get mad, Captain A.” Rita looked up at Buddy with big eyes.

“Why in the world would I be mad? This is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me, Rita.” Buddy took a moment to look around the room and smiled. She walked over to Vespa and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You look beautiful, darling.”

“You too, Bud.” Vespa blushed and sniffled a little, looking at the rest of the crew. “If any of you make a smart-ass remark I’m going to personally kick you outta the airlock.”

“Noted.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

“Why would I do somethin’ like that Ms. Vespa?”

Juno just sniffled.

“You laughing again, Steel?!” Vespa said.

“No, just got something in my eye.” Juno said, rubbing at it.

“Good.” Vespa said.

“So,” Buddy said, looking at Rita, who seemed to have more of a handle on the logistics of a wedding than anyone else. “What’s the plan?”

“Well, I thought we could to the weddin’ part first and then dinner and then dancin’?” Rita looked to the rest of the crew for approval and got nods in return. Peter and Vespa went to stand below the arch. Peter had taken an online course to legally be able to officiate weddings a few years ago for a job, and still retained the legal ability to marry people. Although, because Buddy and Vespa were wanted criminals the marriage was never going to be recognized in a court of law anyways. But, Peter still knew the order of what things to say and was given the job of officiating. 

“Oh! I almost forgot!” Rita exclaimed, racing towards the other side of the room. “This is for you!” She handed a bouquet of tiger lilies to Buddy.

“Thank you, Rita. This is very beautiful.” Buddy admired the bouquet.

“Aw, of course Captain A.” Rita said, grabbing Juno’s hand and pulling him towards the flower arch. Rita and Juno positioned themselves on either side of the arch, but Jet stayed next to Buddy. “May I give you off?” Jet asked Buddy softly, offering her his elbow.

“I would want it no other way,” Buddy said, taking his arm and smiling at him. They began slowly walking down the aisle. 

Jet tilted his head closer to Buddy’s and whispered: “You have chosen well, Buddy.”

“I have, haven’t I.” Buddy said, smiling at Vespa like she’d hung the moon, the sun and the entire galaxy. “Doesn’t she look beautiful?”

“She does indeed.” Jet replied. 

“I wish I’d done this years ago. I shouldn’t have ever let her out of my sight.” Buddy sighed.

“I, for one, am happy that you have waited this long. Without losing Vespa, I would have never met you.” Jet stated. “Apologies, that sounds very selfish. I just mean to say that I am happy that you are in my life, Buddy.”

“I understand, Jet.” Buddy said, smiling at him. They reached the end of the aisle and Jet smiled down at Buddy.

“Unfortunately, we have reached the moment in which I must let you go.” He unhooked his elbow from Buddy’s before leaning down to whisper one more thing in her ear. Buddy raised her eyebrows at him and smiled before nodded before taking the last few steps towards Vespa.  
Buddy stood directly across from her and gently took Vespa’s hands in hers.

“Hey,” Buddy said, grinning like a lovesick teenager.

“Hey,” Vespa replied, smiling like an idiot. After staying like that for a few moments, Peter realized that if he didn’t start talking, they’d spend the next few hours just staring at one another.

“We have gathered here today to celebrate the union of Buddy Aurinko and Vespa Ilkay. They have the strongest connection of any two people I’ve ever met. They have gone through a lot to find one another, and have never once faltered. I’m honored to be marrying them today. I’m assuming that you two have not prepared vows, but if you would like to say a few words to one another?” Peter began, gesturing at the two women standing in front of him.

“Uh, well, Bud, I’m not the best with words. If that’s a deal breaker it’s a little late to back out though.” Vespa looked a little sheepish, and Buddy chuckled. “I’m just, uh, really grateful that I was able to find you again. When I lost you, I thought that was gonna be it. But, I never stopped thinking about you and fighting for you. I kept almost giving in, and then I’d think about your face and you, and I’d be able to make it for another few days and just sorta kept doin that. You’re my light, Bud. You’re the only one I ever wanna be with and my reason for wanting to be better. I- I just- I love you, Bud.” 

Buddy squeezed Vespa’s hands. “I love you too, Vespa. And I’m so happy that you found your way back to me. It was so hard being without you for so long, and now that I have you back, I’m always making sure to never take a single second with you for granted because we really only have so much time to love and I want to spend every single minute of it on you. I never want to stop waking up beside you and hearing your perfect laugh. I may make you want to be better, Vespa, but you make me better. You remind me that although there is so much more of the galaxy to see, sometimes all that you need is right in front of you. Oh, and I’m never letting you out of my sight again.” Buddy reached up and wiped away the tear trailing down Vespa’s cheek.

Jet looked over at Juno to offer him a tissue after hearing him sniffle and saw that he too was crying. He handed Juno a tissue despite Juno trying to convince him that it was just a droplet of rain that had come in through the window, and turned back to continue watching Buddy and Vespa.

Rita stepped forward and handed them each a ring. They were both gold with little engravings of stars spread across the tops. In the middle of each was a planet. A sun, and a moon. Vespa slipped the ring with the sun onto Buddy’s ring finger, and Buddy carefully slid the one with a moon onto Vespa’s finger.

Peter smiled at them. “Vespa, do you take Buddy to be your unlawfully wedded wife”

“I do.”

“And Buddy Aurinko do you-“

“Yes.”

Peter chuckled. “ I now pronounce you unlegally married! You may kiss the bride.” Buddy and Vespa leaned forward and kissed one another like their lives depended on it. Juno, Peter, Rita, and Jet clapped and moved to stand a little ways away from the happy couple, giving them room. They separated after a moment, both with flushed faces and massive smiles. 

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Buddy exclaimed, turning her back to the rest of the crew and tossing the bouquet over her head. Peter reached for it, but Jet reflexively caught it about 6 inches above his hand. He smiled briefly, before realizing what catching the bouquet meant, and promptly dropped it on Peter’s face. Peter stumbled backwards, tripping over Rita’s shoe, but managed to keep a hold on the bouquet and ended up sprawled on his back, holding the bouquet victoriously over his head. He sat up and looked at Juno who was giving him a sly look.

“That keen to catch the bouquet, are we?” He teased, offering a hand to Peter to help him up. Peter readily accepted and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.

“Well, you know me. If I see something I like, I take it.” He was staring directly into Juno’s eyes as he said this, and Juno got the feeling that he wasn’t talking about the bouquet.

“Yeah, yeah.” Juno said, rolling his eye and blushing a little. “I love you too.”

Jet leaned over to Rita and whispered quietly: “Five dollars says that Peter will propose to Juno by midnight tonight.” 

“You’ve got a deal!” Rita said, shaking his hand.

Everyone walked over and took a seat at the table per Rita’s orders, and enjoyed the delicious Rangian stew Juno had whipped up. 

“Dang, Steel, you sure you’re from Mars?” Vespa asked, incredulous at how similar the stew tasted to the one she used to have all the time at home.

“Uh, yeah?” Juno said.

“That was a compliment, Steel.”

“Oh, thank you then.” Juno smiled at Vespa

After a little more small talk, Rita grabbed the cake and walked it over to the table. “Captain A? Vespa? You gotta do the thing with the cake that people always do at weddings before we eat it!”  
Buddy and Vespa looked at her in confusion.

“You know, like the think where they take the handful of cake and put it in the other person’s face?”

“Have you actually been to a wedding before, Rita?” Juno asked.

“No, but it’s how they always do it on the streams!” Rita insisted.

“Well, I suppose we can… smear cake on one another?” Buddy said, still sounding more than a little confused.

“I guess.” Vespa said, picking up a chunk of cake and carefully smearing on Buddy’s face, careful not to get any on her cybernetic eye. 

Buddy picked up a massive chunk of cake and just pressed it into Vespa’s face, making them both laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, and making Juno sigh sadly watching the fate of the cake he’d worked so hard on.

After Buddy and Vespa had wiped their faces off, the crew enjoyed the cake, and Juno was bequeathed even more cooking-related compliments. As everyone was finishing, Juno stood up and banged on his glass with a spoon. He’d seen people do it to get everyone’s attention at the only other wedding he’d been to, though he realized it was kind of pointless as there were only six of them.

“I’d like to give a toast.” Juno started.

“Oh, this should be good.” Vespa teased without any venom in her voice for once.

Juno took a breath before continuing. “It’s true what people say about the view from space. You look at how much there is out there, and you feel your own smallness in the face of it, sure. But you also feel the freedom of it. Infinite space means infinite room to move around. It means infinite possibility, like if you just looked long enough you could eventually find anything — even yourself. And I’ve been doing a lot of that lately, of finding myself. But, it’s been really hard. I’ve had a hard time making connections with people for as long as I can remember, but the second I stepped foot aboard the Carte Blanche, it felt like I was coming home. Buddy, you’ve been through so much, seen so much, and yet you still take the time to sit and listen to all of my little problems and give me advice. And Vespa, I know that we’re not the closest people in the world, but you’re still always going to be family to me, whether you like it or not. I’m so happy that you chose me, of all people to bring into your crime family, and I’m so happy that I’ve been able to get to know both of you so well. You’re two of the best people I know, and I wish you years of joy and happiness together.” Juno’s face had gone completely red at this point, and he flopped back into his chair.

“That means a lot coming from you, Juno.” Buddy said, nudging Vespa.

“That was really nice… Juno.” Vespa said, smiling at him.

Jet, Rita, and Peter also gave toasts, Jet’s mostly consisting of embarrassing stories that had Buddy practically hiding under the table. Rita’s was a long stream of consciousness about how cute they were together, and Peter’s was a short love poem that he’d found a few weeks ago and kept because it had reminded him of them.

Everyone chatted for a long while after they finished with the cake, and during an especially long lull in the conversation, Rita announced that it was time to dance. 

Buddy and Vespa had the first dance of course, and the rest of the crew watched as they waltzed elegantly to a song Jet knew was both one of their favorites. They weren’t perfect dancers, but they were so connected in each step that they took. Vespa stumbled at one point, but Buddy had already anticipated it happening and had positioned herself to catch Vespa in a dip. It was practically mesmerizing to watch.

When the song ended, Buddy and Vespa continued to dance with one another, quietly talking to one another, their heads close together. Rita pulled Jet onto the dance floor and they began to swing dance together to non-jazz music. It was oddly fitting.

“May I have this dance?” Nureyev asked, holding out his hand to Juno.

“I thought you’d never ask.” Juno grinned in return, standing up and letting Nureyev lead him onto the dance floor. They settled into a slow waltz with more dips than were usual, but that didn’t much matter as both Juno and Nureyev loved them. “Having fun?” Juno asked.

“I’m always having fun if you’re around, Juno. I thought you knew that.” Nureyev dipped Juno again.

“I mean it, N-Ransom.” Juno said, blinking at Nureyev.

“And I mean it too, darling. Although weddings are always very fun too. What’s your opinion on them?”

“On weddings?” Juno said thoughtfully. “They’re ok, I guess.”

“Interesting.” Nureyev said, twirling Juno. The song slowed to an end and Buddy walked over to Juno and Peter. 

“Pete, I was wondering if I might be able to pull you away from Juno for a song or two.” She looked at Juno for an ok.

“Fine by me,” Juno said, walking back towards the table to join Vespa and Jet who’d wanted to take a break from dancing. He glanced back at the dance floor to check up on Rita and saw her boogying it up all by herself in one of the corners. He considered going over to dance with her, but she looked like she was having enough fun on her own that he decided it best to leave her to it.

Peter and Buddy had trouble dancing for a few seconds at the beginning, both wanting to lead, but Peter gave up, and allowed Buddy to place her hands on his waist. “Any reason in particular you wanted to dance with me?” Peter queried.

“Can’t I just want to spend a little time with one of my family members?” Buddy said, innocently.

“I suppose so.” Peter replied, knowing that if Buddy wanted to talk to him about something, she’d bring it up soon enough. “So, how are you feeling?” He asked.

“Positively over the moon. I’m so grateful that my family is so sweet and caring. And of course, I’m very happy to be married too.” Buddy sighed happily. “How about you?”

“I’m doing quite well.”

“That was some bouquet catch earlier.” Buddy stated, raising an eyebrow. “Planning to act on that any time soon?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about,” Nureyev responded, looking Buddy directly in the eyes.

Buddy stopped dancing for a moment and just started Peter down. “Pete, you’re not as sneaky as you think. I’ve been watching you fiddle with something in your pocket for the last two weeks, and the one time you’ve taken it out in front of me, it glinted gold. Just because I’m busy doesn’t mean I’m blind, Pete. Plus, Jet and Rita tried to get me in on their bet about when you were going to ask him a few hours ago. I’m not trying to push you into anything, I know you, and I know Juno, and the two of you have had a complicated past that I’m assuming has made things very complicated for your relationship.” Buddy stopped staring down Peter and started to dance again. “What I mean to say, Pete, is that you have my full support. I know that you don’t need it, but I still wanted to make sure that you know we’re all rooting for you.”

Peter stumbled a little bit, letting his confident facade recede for a moment before collecting himself again. “I’m really that obvious?”

“Yes.” Buddy smiled at him. “To everyone except Juno, of course.”

“Of course,” Peter sighed. “May I ask a personal question?”

“Go ahead.”

“How were you certain that Vespa was… the one for you?”

“I knew the second I laid eyes on her. She was sitting in a bar, surrounded by a large mob of men, most much older than her, and destroying them at Rangian street poker one at a time. It was quite entertaining. And then I continued knowing ever single time I looked at her, every single moment my heart ached when we were apart, and every single day I got to spend with her. Does that answer your question, Pete?”

“Yes, I think it does.” Peter smiled back at Buddy.

“Good. Well, I think that about fills my advice-giving quota for the day. I’d like to go dance some more with my wife now, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course.” Peter said, releasing his hold on Buddy’s shoulders. Buddy went to continue dancing with Vespa, and Peter danced for a little while with Rita before settling back into dancing with Juno. The crew slowly headed off to bed. Vespa and Buddy left first, followed by Jet, and then Rita. And then it was just Juno and Nureyev, dancing alone beneath the stars.

“Hey,” Juno said, leaning forward and kissing Nureyev once Rita had fully disappeared down the ladder.

“Hello,” Nureyev returned after they’d broken out of the kiss. “Juno,” He started, quickly getting cut off by Juno.

“What’s up, Nureyev?”

“Honestly, as much as I love dancing with you, It’s been an extremely long day, and I’m about to fall asleep standing up.” Nureyev yawned.

“Why didn’t you mention anything sooner?” Juno asked, rolling his eye. “We coulda gotten to bed ages ago.”

“Yeah, but you just looked so happy and so pretty in the starlight. I’ve told you how beautiful your hair is right? It gets all shiny and pretty. Am I talking a lot? I think I’m talking a lot.” Nureyev yawned again, resting his head on Juno’s shoulder.

“Ok, I think it’s time to get you to bed.” Juno guided Nureyev down the ladder and back to their room. They both got changed and climbed into bed, Juno nestling up against Nureyev. 

“Goodnight, Juno.” Nureyev said quietly. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Nureyev.” Juno responded, and they quickly drifted off to sleep.

Across the ship, Rita spun her chair away from the feed for the camera in the observatory to face Jet. She put her hand out in front of her, and Jet put 5$ into it. 

Nureyev did finally ask Juno the question, nearly a month later. Two days before the curemother heist. It wasn’t fancy, just Nureyev stopping Juno in front of the biggest window on the ship— Juno’s favorite spot— and getting down on one knee. Juno, of course, said yes, and they were married another few months later in a beautiful meadow near Buddy and Vespa’s new house.


End file.
